Photos: Wall poured for zoo’s new elephant barn

Crews with Lease Crutcher Lewis poured concrete Thursday for a section of wall on the new elephant barn at the Oregon Zoo, part of the zoo’s $57 million Elephant Lands habitat. The pour is the first of nine on the 34-foot tall insulated wall, which contains two sections of concrete that are six and nine inches thick with an insulation area between them. The walls are engineered to withstand around 30,000 pounds of force, enough withstand the charge of an adult male bull. Work on the project, designed by SRG Partnership in collaboration with Philadelphia-based CLR Design, began in June 2013 and is slated for completion October 2015.

From left, Keigan McGarry, Brian Hammons, and Rudy Silva, all union carpenters with Lease Crutcher Lewis, raise external vibrators as the level of concrete in the form rises.